28.02.18

Malcolm Lowry Dérive: In his own words Vancouver was a place to flee from, a provincial, uncouth, uptight, frontier town that was stuck on maintaining some form of loyalty to a fading Crown. Above we see Margerie on the deck of the first shack in Dollarton.

"The thing to do," he went on, "is to get out of Vancouver as fast as possible. Go down one of the inlets to some fishing village and buy a shack slap spang on the sea, with only foreshore rights, for, say a hundred dollars. Then live on it this winter for about sixty a month. No phone. No rent. No consulate. Be a squatter. Call on your pioneer ancestors. Water from the well. Chop your own wood. Geoff's as strong as a horse. And perhaps he'll be able really to get down to his book and you can have your stars and the sense of the seasons again, though you can sometimes swim as late as November. And get to know the real people: the Seine fishermen, the old boatbuilders, the trappers, according to McGoff the last truly free people in the world."

- from Under the Volcano

Historian Eve Lazarus writes in her blog that the second shack the Lowrys lived in (above) cost $15/mo in the summer and $7.50/mo during the winter. The cabin burned to the ground in 1944 leaving Malcolm badly burned and many manuscripts destroyed.

The third shack was designed and built by the Lowrys complete with firewood, shelves, a woodstove and simple furnishings. Malcolm, legend has it, would dive into the inlet, swim to Burnaby on the opposite shore and climb up to Hastings St. to drink at the pub, but more about that later.

27.02.18

Malcolm Lowry Dérive: Here he stands proudly on the rocky shore off Dollarton at a point that looks out towards Belcarra, a traditional camp of the Tsleil-waututh. It was a long tread to quench ones thirst but the trek was within reach as required to the Lynnwood Inn in North Vancouver (194-). One version of the Inn stood grandly with separate entrances for Ladies and Gents:

While another, later version of the Inn had a more mid-century design and aspect (BCA):

In any case Lowry found the roughly grim landscape of Hastings St and the bars, rooming houses, strip clubs and hard-done-by to be a tragic result of inaction (even then) on the part of those with the means to affect change. The North Shore became his refuge from this vision of hell.

"Christ Walks In This Internal District Too

Beneath the Malebolge lies Hastings Street,
The province of the pimp upon his beat,
Where each in his little world of drugs or crime
Moves helplessly or, hopeful, begs a dime
Wherewith to purchase half a pint of piss –
Although he will be cheated, even in this.
I hope, although I doubt it, God knows
This place where chancres blossom like the rose,
For on each face is such a hard despair
That nothing like a grief could enter there.
And on this scene from all excuse exempt,
The mountains gaze in absolute contempt,
Yet this is also Canada, my friend,
Yours to absolve of ruin, or make an end."

- from Collected Poetry by Malcolm Lowry

26.02.18

Malcolm Lowry Dérive: A welcome respite from long journeys through the city, Malcolm would often dine at Dale's Roast Chicken at 585 Granville St. Pot pie delicacies made to order. (CVA)

The author looks onward as he shows the galleys of Under the Volcano with the Burrard Inlet in framing. We are drawn to his affection for the peace and tranquility this stretch of water afforded.

"Suddenly he saw them, the bottles of aguardiente, of anís, of jerez, of Highland Queen, the glasses, a babel of glasses—towering, like the smoke from the train that day—built to the sky, then falling, the glasses toppling and crashing, falling downhill from the Generalife Gardens, the bottles breaking, bottles of Oporto, tinto, blanco, bottles of Pernod, Oxygènée, absinthe, bottles smashing, bottles cast aside, falling with a thud on the ground in parks, under benches, beds, cinema seats, hidden in drawers at Consulates, bottles of Calvados dropped and broken, or bursting into smithereens, tossed into garbage heaps, flung into the sea, the Mediterranean, the Caspian, the Caribbean, bottles floating in the ocean, dead Scotchmen on the Atlantic highlands—and now he saw them, smelt them, all, from the very beginning—bottles, bottles, bottles, and glasses, glasses, glasses, of bitter, of Dubonnet, of Falstaff, Rye, Johnny Walker, Vieux Whiskey blanc Canadien, the apéritifs, the digestifs, the demis, the dobles, the noch ein Herr Obers, the et glas Araks, the tusen taks, the bottles, the bottles, the beautiful bottles of tequila, and the gourds, gourds, gourds, the millions of gourds of beautiful mescal . . ."

- Under the Volcano

25.02.18

Malcolm Lowry Dérive: Many a watering hole was to be frequented by Malcolm during the Vancouver era. The Niagara (now Ramada) was a favored haunt down on Pender St West, only blocks from the Carnegie Library where he and Margerie borrowed and read.

Legion

At first I never looked on them as horrors;

But one day I was drinking hard near sunset,

And suddenly saw the world as a giant prison, 

Ruled by tossing moose-heads, with hand mirrors,

And heard the voice of the idiot speak at dawning,

And since that time have dwelt beside the ocean.

-from Selected Poems by Malcolm Lowry

The Carnegie Library as it was before the modification set in. (CVA)

24.02.18

Malcolm Lowry Dérive: Margerie (we presume) and Malcolm arm in arm may have walked about town as literal drifters and ever onward to the Sylvia Hotel for cocktails and a view.

From the Sylvia it was a mere jaunt to Beaver Lake and the old zoo in Stanley Park; inspirational settings for shorter, highly descriptive pieces:


"In the lagoon swam wild swans, and many wild ducks: mallards and buffleheads and scaups, golden eyes, and cackling black coots with carved ivory bills. The little buffleheads often took flight from the water and some of them flew about like doves among the smaller trees... Ursus Horribilis: and now they tossed peanuts to the sad lumbering sleep-heavy creatures- though at least these two grizzlies were together, they even had a home..."

- The Bravest Boat

"Trotsky" the Siberian Bear at the old Stanley Park Zoo (CVA): 

23.02.18

Malcolm Lowry Dérive: Not much to say tonight other than Malcolm would have no doubt read Hemingway. Not a boxer, nor a bullfighter, but a swimmer and a dreamer- looking onward between Mexico and the "waterfront porch" in Dollarton. (Vancouver Sun, Aug 1st, 1947)

22.02.18

Malcolm Lowry Dérive: The Caroline Court @ 1058 Nelson St. Apt #73. The Lowry's lived here during the winter of 1954. A grand structure nestled in the sublime village of West End Vancouver.

Malcolm would have staggered up and/or down some nights and in the mornings may have carried manuscripts to the post office; editors all in waiting.

"For the Love of Dying


The tortures of hell are stern, their fires burn fiercely.
Yet vultures turn against the air more beautifully
than seagulls float downwind in cool sunlight,
or fans in asylums spin a loom of fate
for hope which never ventured up so high
as life’s deception, astride the vulture’s flight.
If death can fly, just for the love of flying,
what might not life do, for the love of dying?”

- Selected Poems

21.02.18

Malcolm Lowry Dérive: In 1940 the Lowry's lived next door to this fine building which even then may have been a suite of apartments. The site of their former residence at 1236 West 11th Ave was replaced by this three story block:

In the Smith's home, "... he and Margerie found more comfortable and pleasant lodgings." Here he was able to finish the final draft of Under the Volcano. Later in the year the couple rented a shack near Dollarton for the period of one month. Peace and tranquility ensued as the infernal bitumen flares danced in the distance.

This shack overlooks the Dollarton mudflats. Not of the Lowry recluse sequence but indicative.

"My old life of the night, how far away that seemed now, my life in which my only stars were neon lights! I must have stumbled into a thousand alcoholic dawns, but drunk in the rumble seat I passed them by... Never had I really looked at a sunrise till now."

-  The Forest Path to the Spring

20.02.18

Malcolm Lowry Dérive: One of our favorite photos of the writer, here near the end, by a lake, in a district of England, full circle. Those pants, as if cut from sail cloth, billow, flap and sheet against the current that is his impending epilogue. Perhaps in this contemplative mood he reflects on his life in Vancouver where he wrote the great if not unbearably symbolic novel he is best known for; the lost inter-tidal shacks; the pints and periods of drunken delirium tremens.

His second Vancouver residence @ 595 West 19th Ave. Largely intact. A hearth to sit by. Few distractions? A movie or play at the Park?  A tread to the (False) reek or the Niagara Hotel? A desk with a view? The house was owned by Maurice Carey when Lowry and his wife Margerie lived there from 1939-40.

"Now the setup is this: $2 a week for myself and Margerie in return for which we get one meal a day if we're lucky. There is a family of six, including a loud speaker, a howling wind which rages through the house all day, twins, and a nurse. I forgot the dog, the canary and a Hindoo timber merchant... who sleeps in the woodpile in the basement, hoping, with his fine Oriental calm, that one day he'll be paid for the wood."

- from Selected Letters in Malcolm Lowry: Vancouver Days by Sheryl Salloum

"The fallen light in the forest seemed to make even the ground glow and burn with light."

- October Ferry to Gabriola

19.02.18

Corner Store #28(b): Sunrise Market @ 300 Powell Street. Yali lo bak (green), netted lotus, pomelo.

 Bouillon de poisson barred harbor seafood stew discounted in tin stock supreme.

Heart of palmier, tamek stuffed options, imported unpacked, stack shelved and sorted.

An archaeology of foodstuffs distributed, assembled, on display and presented- the corner store is a cultural enterprise interlinking a web of historic transnational practices. While seemingly an urban form in steady decline there are many examples of survival, renewal and reinvention. Stories can outlive the crumbling stucco and best before dates but are better remembered when there is a structure supporting the narrative.

18.02.18

Corner Store #28(a): Sunrise Market @ 300 Powell Street. Since 1956 the largest tofu production house in Canada has been rinsing, pressing, cubing. A warren of orthogonal view cones erupting into melon mounds, snack heaps, root medleys, market garden varietals.

17.02.18

Corner Store #27: Double Happiness Foods @ 429 Powell St. Not on a corner but centrally aligned edgewise. We make our way gradually along the old number 20 line to the historic center of Japan Town. Double Happiness procures essentials for the production of noodles, wrappers, pastes.

Vancouver Director Mina Shum may have a connection, one that inspired the title of her film of same name. Double Double Happiness.

16.02.18

Corner Store #26: Essence of Market @ 10th and Main. At this point it serves us well to move beyond the structure of the corner store typology and consider the inset, the wares, the hanging fruit.

15.02.18

Corner Store #25:  Banana Grove Market and Deli @ 2705 East 22nd Ave. Putting a lime in a coconut, drink'n bot'em up.

14.02.18

Corner Store #24: Park Avenue Grocery @ 2598 Eton St. The Park Avenue Grocery was located at the corner of Eton and Penticton with no Park in sight.  Perhaps a nod to another street in another city. The building has been entirely refashioned. literal drift recalls visiting a neighboring apartment for fondue and views of collectible exotic fishes in a saltwater aquarium. Curt Lang visited and photographed the old grocery, among others, while treading in the hood. Awaiting to see the new corner tenant and wares. The image below was snapped in 1978. (CVA)

13.02.18

Corner Store #23: Best Foods Grocery @ 1002 East 12th Ave. Affectionately known as "Harry's" due to the affectionately adored former owner of this corner shop. Harry had it all: lottery tickets, ice cream, dvd rentals, a photocopier, postage stamps, cat food, 3-in-1 oil, newspapers, popcorn and some magazines. Above all he had a smile and a memory for faces. The building had been quietly sitting on the realtor block for much of last year. Listed at $2,200,000- not for the timid.

12.02.18

Corner Store #22: Sunkist Grocery @ 1101 East 13th Ave.  This image was taken in 1978 and there are local reports that this store continued to operate well into the 90's. Note the old fire alarm box on the light standard, Korean script stenciled onto the windows. (CVA)